An emotion, whether it be a sweet or sour one, eventually succumbs to the nature of time. A memory solidified in the past, that can no longer be tapped into, once a passionate emotion becomes a far-off glimpse into the past. The stance taken in 25-21 is that drunken youthfulness eventually sobbers up and becomes part of the ephemeral nature of life and that one must take the breakups and sadness in life and continue to move on.

One of my favourite lines in the drama, and one that sums up both my love and quarrels with the drama is, "We only love each other during our good times, but we become a burden to each other in our low points". The relationship between Baek Yi-Jin and Na Hee-Do initially starts off as a promise to "only be happy together" however this exact promise and the inability to rise above this promise is what leads to the eventual breakup.

Throughout the drama we see Hee-do and Yi-Jin develop a relationship that is greatest than friendship, they fall in love and spend the beginning of their young adult lives together. The issue between the two is not their lack of opportunities in meeting with each other, but their lack of communication. Hee-Do despite being in pain at Yi-Jin's avoidance of her (by solely pursuing his career) keeps these conflicts to herself and never truly expresses her discontent towards Yi-Jin until their eventual breakup. Yi-jin suffers this lack of communication to a greater extent than Hee-do, where he rarely opens up to Hee-do and continues to keep his issues bottled up (tighter than the alcohol corks on the bottles he gobbles down), creating a rift between the two where they only ever show the good parts to each other, rather than sharing and growing together through their shared grievances.

I view this drama through a more cynical lens, where the ending is not one of happiness and moving past one's miseries, but rather one that demonstrates the results, for couples, when they lack proper communication. The way that Yi-Jin and Hee-do gaze at each other, and think about their past (in the 2009 interview) is not one that is of a couple who has moved on. Instead, our two protagonists look at each other with deep sadness behind their words. who were unable to work together to solve their issues together. I do not think Hee-do will truly be happy without someone like Yi-Jin in her life (and vice versa). I've seen the comment that the couple's relationship was 'realistic' however the extent that both Hee-Do & Ye-Jin go for each other was beyond realism from the get-go. Their "realistic" ending is not realistic, but rather tragic. Their breakup is a tragedy, one where the missing piece to their relationship was open communication about their grievances.

Hee-do, we see at the age of 41, has let go and forgotten most of her precious memories with her main friend group, as seen with her forgetting of the beach memory. This was a memory which not only was documented and aired on TV but was also a first for her--her first school trip. For hee-do to forget this moment leads to her tragic departure from Yi-Jin because had she truly gotten over Ye-Jin she would've been able to look back at that memory with a sense of bittersweetness, instead, she needs, to forget these moments to truly erase--not get over-- Yi-Jin. First and Last memories are not easily forgotten, for Hee-Do to forget her first school trip exhibits her mid-life sadness. Erasing someone and healing from someone are two different things and from the Hee-Do we see in 2020 we're given a woman who has completely let go of her past in an unhealthy manner. To convince herself that she is happier without Yi-Jin, she has to forget the precious moments she has with him.

In a 65-61 future I see both Hee-Do and Yi-Jin stuck in their denial, that they were not meant to be with each other, and that they made the right choice. They, in my opinion, made the wrong choice and must live with that choice for the rest of their lives.

It's the tragic and frustrating nature of this ending that also makes the series more memorable, we see a glimpse of a couple and what they could have had together.

Overall, despite my grievances with the ending, I truly loved this drama--especially the character development between the main friend group (the only expectation is the development of Yi-Jin to take on a job without discussing it with Hee-Do, which was just plain dumb). We grow with the characters and it shows, because it hurts just as much when we see them in pain and not together.

I would describe this drama as an extreme roller-coaster of emotions.